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ADWATCH: Currys calls in Changing Rooms star for value message

The retailer has signed up the interior designer to add a dash of style to its price focus.

Electrical retailer Currys has ditched its 'Currys, no worries' service-oriented positioning of the past two years in a return to the low-pricing message it had previously favoured, and enters this week's Adwatch at number eight, with 46% recall.

The M&C Saatchi-created campaign, which broke on August 3, stars interior designer Linda Barker of Changing Rooms fame, whose profile was boosted by participation in the second series of I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here.

Each execution in the multi-million-pound campaign focuses on a product, from camcorders and cookers to hi-fis and PCs, and features Barker and a shop assistant talking about the product on show.

The activity uses the endline 'Currys. Always cutting prices', as Barker pops back on-screen brandishing a pair of scissors. The retailer's previous value-focused strategy had employed the strapline 'Britain's biggest for lower prices'.

Barker's profile was raised significantly by her appearance on I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here, screened on ITV in May this year. She was runner-up in the Australian jungle reality TV programme, which was won by former England cricketer Phil Tufnell.

An M&C Saatchi spokeswoman said Barker was chosen to front the campaign because "she's a high-profile, popular figure, associated with style and good homes". She added that the ad strategy change had come about because it was "time to reinforce Currys' price edge".

The Dixons Stores Group-owned chain is the UK's biggest electrical retailer, with 384 stores. Its sales increased by 18% to £5.8bn for the year to June, although it had a disappointing Christmas period.

Alongside other electrical retailers, Currys is currently the subject of a Competition Commission investigation into sales of extended warrantees. The final report on the inquiry is due to be sent to the Department of Trade and Industry at the end of the month.

Media, through Walker Media, will include national press advertising and inserts.